Creating a New Garden Bed with Milpa
Grow Food, Not Lawns. To create new garden beds from grass, I use a broadfork to turn over the sod, add compost, and then sow Milpa.
Homesteading
Current homesteading information from around the web without all the noise.
Your Companion Planting Guide to Deter Pests and Thrive
Which crops you choose to plant next to each other makes a difference. The right choice can provide nitrogen, deter pests, improve flavor, and provide shade or protection. Choosing the wrong plants can stunt your hard work in the garden. Companion planting examples such as the 3 sisters – corn, beans, and squash. The beans … Read more
Interplanting Perennials with Annuals in the Garden
It is still March. The last frost in NE Kansas is still over a month away. It is encouraging to see the perennials – walking onions, bloody dock sorrel, and plantain already prominent and harvestable in modest amounts. I plucked some Narrow Leaf plantain (perennial) and some mustard that overwintered and fed them to my … Read more
I Have Never Done a Soil Test in My Garden
Soil Health is the Foundation of Your Garden Take a shovel and turn over the dirt in the area that you are planning on doing in-ground garden beds. You will probably see a mixture of different types of soil, some sand. If you dig up some worms in that shovel of dirt you are lucky. … Read more
Foraging in the Weeks of Want
Get out of the scarcity mindset! Before supermarkets, there was the gap in the Spring between when your stored food ran low or ran out and when you would have your first spring crop of greens. This period was called the “Weeks of Want”. For the people who were in tune with the land and … Read more
How to Start Your Garden: Dream, Plan, then Plant
What new adventures will this growing season hold? Spring is dawning. Whether you have never gardened before, or you are a green thumb, you are excited about what this year may hold. The seed catalogs lay open on the kitchen table or coffee table. The plants are starting to show up at the nursery and … Read more
How to Grow Elderberry from Cuttings
Cross posted from GrowNutTrees.com, your source for elderberry cuttings. Step by Step to Propagate Elderberry In this article I will cover three ways to grow elderberry from cuttings – starting in a pot, starting sideways in a bed of sand, or poking a stick straight into the ground. Let’s look at the different methods. Start … Read more
How to Pick your Homestead Property: the Property Walk
Prepping for the Property Walk A new member to my local community group and his wife asked me to come over to their property and do a property walk – give an assessment and a plan for adding a food forest and regenerative practices to their unused pastures. In typical fashion, we turned it into … Read more
Why You Need Multiple Sources of Backup Power
How to Thrive (as much as possible) in a power outage I have a friend who repairs equipment at electrical power plants. One regional plant currently has 12 turbines down. At another he was called out to do some repairs but the necessary parts are not available for 6+ months. So his team did their … Read more
How to Pick your Homestead Property: Meet the Neighbors
Are your neighbors growing gardens or lawns? Evaluate My Land series – Homestead Property True story:Susan and her husband, both early 50s, decided to move out to the country. Mostly for the quiet and sunsets. Susan was horrified that her neighbors rode ATVs up and down the gravel road, and she could hear gunshots at … Read more
